Tasmania, Tasmania, Tasmania.... I love you!!
How do I describe my love for this beautiful, magnificent island, state, territory?
It's going to be a difficult one!!
After a stressful towing session around Port Melbourne, to find the ferry and going through quarantine inspections, we boarded the Spirit of Tasmania, retrieved our night bags from the back of the ute and found our cabin. A very pleasant evening and meal was had before we retired to bed.
Awoken the next morning, by the tannoy system informing us that we were about to dock in Devonport, everyone made their way to their different vehicles, but mainly Utes and caravans.
We soon disembarked and made our way towards Burnie, where we will stock up with food and drink before heading southwest to Strahan to meet up with Glenn and Sue.
The town of Burnie was very quiet at 7 a.m. in the morning we managed to park up in the main street. Helen went into the nearest Coles supermarket and after spending a small fortune she came back with bags and bags of supplies..
Catastrophe
We set off on our way to our first caravan park at Strahan on the west coast of Tasmania. We stopped to take some pictures and suddenly realised that we had misplaced our nearly new Canon camera. Putting 2 and 2 together we realised that we had left the camera on the ship.
Helen was beside herself as the camera contained a lot of pictures of our time with Toby, our grandson.
We immediately telephoned the ferry company and they assured us that they would check to see if had been handed in. Poor Helen was absolutely devastated, she doesn't cry often, she did with this.
We carried on with heavy hearts and some hope that we might get our photographs back.
Distances in Tassie are relatively small, but the reality of it is that the roads can be windy and narrow. We chose a windy and narrow road through a gorge with wet weather. Richard was driving to the conditions, a good job too, as we rounded a corner and came across a circus truck travelling at 5km/hour! All 8 wheels of our rig locked under heavy braking, we were OK, a little shaken but, Glen and Sue were waiting for us, got us onto a good site and we had arrived!
Unfortunately, the weather in Tassie can be poor at times, it was poor at times during our stay in Strahan! However, we had days out to Queenstown, Zeehan and a wonderful trip on the Gordon river cruise.
Gordon River Cruise
Cruising with the Lady Jane Franklin II on our national award-winning Gordon River Cruise, you will feel like you're perched at the edge of the world, as we navigate the calm waters of one of the last great untouched wilderness areas on earth. Our expert nature guides will talk you through the points of interest as you cruise across Tasmania's majestic Macquarie Harbour - the only safe harbour early settlers found on the west coast of Tasmania.
GORDON RIVER CRUISE INCLUSIONS:- Dedicated on-board guides
- Chef-prepared buffet lunch
- First access to the Gordon River ensuring the best possible chance of seeing the famous reflections
- Three seating options, including the Captain's Premier Upper Deck
- Complimentary audio tours for international guests (reservation recommended)
- Two walking tours (Heritage Landing and Sarah Island)
On our way back to Strahan, Helen, picked up a text message with the best news, the ferry company had found our camera!!! We also went to a play, marvellous interpretation of the convict times in Tassie. The play was called "The boat that never was". Quite amazing!
The cast of the play, built a boat on stage!
After this visit to the west, we towed our home back up north to the coastal town of Wynyard. We arrived at a lovely little caravan park, nice pitches and an indoor swimming pool. The weather was better here but Helen was coming down with the flu!
We managed to visit Penguin and also Burnie, Ulverstone and Devonport to pick up our lost camera!
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| Thank you the good people of the Spirit of Tasmania ferry! |
Poor Helen spent the next 3 days in bed feeling poorly. Eventually we went to the Doctors in Wynyard on a Sunday morning where she got antibiotics. The doctors was bulk billed, free to us. Fantastic service!
We spent a few days here to allow Helen to recouperate. Glen and Richard went to the Wynyard car museum too.
Eventually, Helen was well enough to venture out. we went to Stanley, a small place on the picturesque north coast. Here, they filmed the movie "Light between oceans". Lovely place.
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| Fantastic car museum at Wynyard Most of this collection was restored by one man! |
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| Helen at the fish and chip restaurant in Stanley |
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A presentation of how they dressed the town
for the filming of The Light Between Oceans
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| Nice house in Stanley |
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| Movie time in Stanley |
17 November 2016
We moved on to Gowrie Park which is centrally situated the route was through amazing green lush land. Our campsite was quite rural and very much a bush camp. Once set up we went to have a look at a nearby town called Sheffield (Sue is from Sheffield UK). Sheffield is a Mural town, so many beautiful paintings, we visited the RSL to check out their menu, needless to say we will be having Sunday lunch there.
18 November
We decided to visit Cradle Mountain - St Clair National Park
The mountain rises above the glacially formed Dove Lake (934 metres (3,064 ft)), Lake Wilks and Crater Lake.
The mountain has four named summits. In order of height they are Cradle Mountain (1,545 m (5,069 ft)); Smithies Peak (1,527 m (5,010 ft)); Weindorfers Tower (1,459 metres (4,787 ft)); and Little Horn (1,355 m (4,446 ft)).
The mountain itself is named after its resemblance to a gold mining cradle.
All four of us were very taken with the amazing view of Dove lake and Cradle Mountain towering over it. Richard and I walked to Glazier Rock, but, we will come back and walk all way round Dove Lake.
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| Dove Lake with Cradle Mountain |
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| Our caravan next to Glen and Sue's |
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| Helen in the promised land! |
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| Just can't beat bush camping and having a blaze. |
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| The "pig" ready to cook |
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| Lovely Jaffles! |
Our next camp site was Hadspen. Nice little place, near to Launceston.
We visited Beauty Point from here. We went to the Platypus house, Seahorse house and Beaconsfield mining museum. a great day out!
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| Sea horses |
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| Sea horse |
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| Echidnas |
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| Platypus |
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The mining museum at Beaconsfield.
On our last day in Hadspen we visited Cataract Gorge near to Launceston. This beautiful place is within walking distance of Launceston city centre. Quite stunning!
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| Funicular! |
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| Which way? |
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| Looking down towards Launie |
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Noisy!
We left Gowrie Park after having a lovely time and towed the van to Scottsdale, a small rural town, where we stayed on a free camp. Here we spent time in the local RSL and a small micro brewery. Great relaxation!
After Scottsdale, we towed onwards to the Big 4 caravan park at St Helens. From here we visited the Bay of Fires which is a famous free camping area and outstandingly beautiful place. Unfortunately it was raining cats and dogs!
Our next stopping off place was Bicheno on the East coast of Tassie. From here we visited the Freycinet peninsula, area of outstanding natural beauty. Natureworld is close too and is really worth a visit with some amazing Rangers there.
Bicheno is a town on the east coast of Tasmania, Australia, 185 km north-east of Hobart on the Tasman Highway, with a population of 853. It is part of the municipality of Glamorgan/Spring Bay. The town is primarily a fishing port and a beach resort.
The town was named after James Ebenezer Bicheno, the British Colonial Secretary for Van Diemen's Land from 1843 to 1851. The first historical reference to the place that was to become Bicheno was made by Brian May during his circumnavigation of Van Diemen's Land. He landed here (when it was known as Waubs Harbour) to dry his provisions. From 1803 Waubs Harbour was used as a whaling port. Bicheno was proclaimed a township in 1866. Bicheno Post Office opened as a receiving house on 1 January 1855. |
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| Tourists at the Wineglass Bay viewing point. |
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| Climbing up to the viewing platform, time for a rest! |
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| Bicheno bowls club |
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| What ya doing Skip? |
We had always wanted to see penguins in the wild, there are lots of them here! We booked on to a really lovely tour.
Richard also had an afternoon on the beach fishing, it was an amazing sunny day, we got a tan!
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| Penguins coming ashore |
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| A lifelong ambition, to hold a Wombat! called Maisie |
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| Tiger Snakes, Deadly! |
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| Tasmanian Devil, of course! |
After leaving Bicheno we headed for Swansea, not a very long drive, we managed to get a nice caravan park near the sea, but, the weather wasn't to good, even though the sun was shining, it was very windy but no walk on the beach!
In Swansea we had a delicious lunch at the RSL. A trip out to 9 mile beach unfortunately, we could not get out of the ute.
Our next port of call was the coastal port of Triabunna. This is a lovely little place with a feeling of community. We stayed behind the pub, all free of charge. We ate dinner one night in there.
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| Stayed behind this pub |
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| A nice marina |
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| Great ferry ride to Maria island |
We took the ferry to Maria Island from Triabunna. this was truly a day to remember. We walked around the island, about 12km and saw allsorts of wildlife. A great place to visit and stay overnight if you like
Lots of convict related stories here. We marvelled at the place.
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| Convict built |
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| Convict built accommodation, now used by tourists |
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| Where's The Doctor? |
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| Concrete silos |
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| Cuckaburra |
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| Stunning beach |
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| Unusual rock formation |
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| This room has been restored to its original condition |
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| Fossils |
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| Having a paddle |
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| Christmas carol concert which we really enjoyed |
Our next stop was at a low cost camp ($7) in the town of Sorrell, a great little spot for us to have a wander about. We visited the very old town of Richmond with its original convict built bridge.
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| The oldest bridge in Tasmania |
We decided that we would like to do some pub caravanning so we then moved down to the Dunalley pub where we camped behind the pub. It was so windy here that for the first time ever we had to sleep with our slide-out bedroom in its retracted position. We had a meal in the pub and stayed here for 2 days because it was too dangerous to tow in the high winds.
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| Very nice pub site but very windy! |
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| A sailing boat coming in |
We left the pub and towed back to Richmond, a nice old place with a great caravan park. We found out that our great friends from Spain and Enland, Mavis and Eric were in the area so we popped into Richmond and caught up with them at the Gaol! We will see the m at Christmas for a weeks frivolities!
Our next visit was at Hobart, the capital of Tassie. We are in this area for a few weeks, Christmas and New year but first we had to get our caravan serviced at the local Jayco dealer. We stayed at the Hobart showgrounds and then went on a momentous visit to MONA, The museum of old and new art. We were blown a way by this place, quite confronting at times but thoroughly wonderful!
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| A Rover SD1 stuck in a concrete wedge! |
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| The owner and his wife both own Teslas! |
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| Unbelievable, wrought iron truck with a concrete truck on its trailer! |
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| Brianah of Tarr from Game of Thrones |
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| Living sculpture |
We picked up the caravan from the service place and went back to Sorrell for a short time.
Next day we went to 7 mile beach caravan park, not far from Hobart. We would spend 2 weeks here and a week with Mavis and Eric from the northern hemisphere.
We set up a tent under our awning, Mave and Eric had our bed in the van. it was like being in the Scouts again!
Christmas was spent eating and drinking as usual. Farther Christmas came!
Christmas festivities 2016 with Mavis and Eric. Seven mile beach, Hobart, Tasmania.
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| Father Christmas arrives |
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| Paddling! |
We had always wanted to visit Port Arthur which was a penal colony. We went there with our friends and had an eye opening Boxing day experience. We realised that when people were caught breaking the law in the UK, for no matter how trivial an offence, if they were tradespersons, they were sent to Australia to help build the country!
Port Arthur is a fantastic example of a restored penal colony.
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| Convict cruise |
After the Christmas festivities, we went up Mount Wellington with our mates, Mave and Eric
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| TV mast at the top of the mountain |
Happy New Year to you all! The next instalment of our blog will be our last, we move to Facebook after that. We will complete our trip to Tassie first.
Hope you enjoyed the first part of our time in the Apple Isle!
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| Sydney to Hobart race winner |
